The Colonial Athletic Association scheduled a press conference for Wednesday in Baltimore, where its men's basketball tournament apparently will move for three years, starting in March 2014, a source told CBSSports.com.

It has been at Richmond Coliseum since 1990 and will remain there this season.

The reasons for keeping the tournament in Richmond have lessened. VCU, whose fans composed much of the tournament’s crowds in recent years, has moved to the Atlantic 10. Old Dominion, which also brought a strong contingent of fans, is ineligible for this season’s tournament because of its impending move to Conference USA.

After an NCAA tournament win over No. 2 seed Missouri last year, NSU came close to repeating that performance again on an ESPN3 national broadcast. The Spartans got to within three points with just 2:30 left in the game.

NSU, though, was unable to capitalize on its few late possessions, and the Fighting Illini made their free throws late in the game to pull away.

Illinois came into the game first in the nation in 3-point field goals per game and 14th in 3-point shooting, hitting better than 40 percent from long range. The Illini, though, hit just 6-of-23 from 3-point range, as NSU’s aggressive, man-to-man defense forced Illinois to create shots by going to the hoop or settling for mid-range jumpers.

The Spartans held Brandon Paul, Illinois’ top scorer averaging nearly 20 points a game, to just 14 points on 3-of-10 shooting.

Freshman Rashid Gaston led the Spartans with 12 points and eight rebounds, while junior Pendarvis Williams scored 11 points, all in the first half.

Division III rankings

Virginia Wesleyan (7-0) retained the No. 1 ranking in the d3hoops.com national poll, while Christopher Newport (5-1) fell five spots to No. 20.

St. Mary’s (7-1), which handed the Captains their loss in Maryland, climbed seven spots to 17th.